The approval and subsequent revocation of bail for Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon in Montenegro has led to his continued detention. A high court cited the lower court’s reliance on “statements” instead of concrete evidence to determine the value of Kwon’s property as the reason for scrapping the bail approval, according to a court statement released on Thursday.
Initially, the Basic Court in the capital city of Podgorica had accepted a bail proposal from Kwon’s lawyers. However, Bloomberg reported that the decision was overturned by a high court on Wednesday.
The Basic Court of Podgorica confirmed the high court’s decision and stated that it had received a payment of 400,000 euros ($428,000) from Kwon on May 17, as agreed upon.
The High Court’s decision to deny bail was based on its finding that the Basic Court had not adequately assessed the value of the defendant’s property. The high court emphasized that the lower court should not rely solely on the defendants’ statements but should require concrete evidence, which was lacking in this particular case.
In light of the High Court ruling, the Basic Court has extended Kwon’s detention. The court stated that it would follow the High Court’s instructions in the renewed proceedings and make a decision regarding bail based on the defense counsel’s proposal.
Kwon, along with former Terra executive Han Chang-joon, is scheduled to appear in court for their next hearing on June 16.
Both the U.S. and South Korea have requested Kwon’s extradition from Montenegrin authorities to face criminal charges related to the collapse of Terraform Labs in May of last year.
